Community Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CYH) shareholders should be happy to see the share price up 21% in the last week. But that doesn't change the fact that the returns over the last year have been stomach churning. To wit, the stock has dropped 71% over the last year. It's not uncommon to see a bounce after a drop like that. The real question is whether the company can turn around its fortunes.

While the last year has been tough for Community Health Systems shareholders, this past week has shown signs of promise. So let's look at the longer term fundamentals and see if they've been the driver of the negative returns.

View our latest analysis for Community Health Systems

Community Health Systems isn't currently profitable, so most analysts would look to revenue growth to get an idea of how fast the underlying business is growing. Shareholders of unprofitable companies usually expect strong revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

In the last year Community Health Systems saw its revenue grow by 1.0%. That's not a very high growth rate considering it doesn't make profits. Nonetheless, it's fair to say the 71% share price implosion is unexpected.. We'd venture this growth was too low to give holders confidence that profitability is on the horizon. But if it will make money, albeit later than previously believed, this could be an opportunity.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

It's good to see that there was some significant insider buying in the last three months. That's a positive. On the other hand, we think the revenue and earnings trends are much more meaningful measures of the business. You can see what analysts are predicting for Community Health Systems in this interactive graph of future profit estimates.

A Different Perspective

While the broader market lost about 14% in the twelve months, Community Health Systems shareholders did even worse, losing 71%. However, it could simply be that the share price has been impacted by broader market jitters. It might be worth keeping an eye on the fundamentals, in case there's a good opportunity. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 10% per year over five years. Generally speaking long term share price weakness can be a bad sign, though contrarian investors might want to research the stock in hope of a turnaround. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. To that end, you should be aware of the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Community Health Systems .

Community Health Systems is not the only stock insiders are buying. So take a peek at this free list of growing companies with insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on US exchanges.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.